Guwahati Shows We Are a Bystander Nation

Recent shocking incidents from Gurgaon to Kolkata to, this week, the molestation of a young woman in Guwahati, could easily lead you to believe that India is a nation of billion-plus bystanders.

Are we a nation of one billion-plus bystanders?

Recent shocking incidents from Gurgaon to Kolkata to, this week, the molestation of a young woman in Guwahati, could easily lead you to that conclusion.

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Soon after the Guwahati incident, social media was flooded with angry statements about police inaction and concerns over the safety of women in India. And, to be sure, those are both primary elements in this case.

But there is a third part worth considering in many such events that grab the headlines and provoke outrage from those who are hundreds or thousands of miles away: Why didn’t somebody do something? Frequently, it is clear from video footage and witness reports that crimes take place in the open, and in view of people who in theory are in a position to intervene.

Of course, it can be a daunting prospect: It would take a lot of bravery to jump into a violent situation, with its potential to backfire on the intervener. Yet, people are brave, and often act irrationally and selflessly in an effort to protect others under attack.

And, all too often, it appears the inclination to intervene doesn’t emerge and then is suppressed – it never appears to emerge at all, even when personal safety may not be at issue.

Consider, even a dying person on the road fails to evoke more than a few sympathetic gasps.

The “Bystander Effect” which came to be coined after the infamous Kitty Genovese murder case in the U.S. has taken grip in many places in India: Individuals offer no help to a victim during an emergency.

Why?

“It is a reflection of the way we live. We do not care enough,” claims A.K. Mathews who teaches humanities at Indian Institute of Management at Kozhikode.

“Social change,” says Mr. Mathews, “cannot come from Facebook.”

He adds that the public needs to be made stakeholders in the justice system and, for that, there has to be trust in legal authorities, the upholders of law and in citizens at large.

“People are scared,” says Subhashini Ali, a senior official at New Delhi-based All India Democratic Women’s Association. “Scared of the threat to their lives, scared of indulging in a court room drama, even scared the accused could possibility manipulate the police.”

These assumptions, she says, have resulted from the “deep-rooted nexus between criminals, politicians and perpetrators” which has gradually led to a “complete lack of faith in the justice system.”

“Our law has to send a clear and loud message that each and every citizen is protected,” adds Ms. Kumari. “This is glaringly missing.”

She points to a recent incident in Orissa where an eyewitness was molested after testifying against the alleged perpetrators of a rape. The same happened in Kolkata last month.

“We need some sort of complete radical rethinking of how we live,” says Mr. Mathews. “Honor killings or crimes against women are nothing short of barbarism.”

So while many condemn the acts videoed in Guwahati, they may also ask themselves: Would I have stepped forward to help?

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